New Debian user here, 1st forum post. When i registered it took over 4 hrs for the activation email to show up in Gmail, i was starting to think i'd never get it. And so was unable to log into the forum for awhile.
Anyway, I've been using computers for a long time. Started with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1. I've pretty much ran every consumer release of Windows, and am still partly dependent on it for gaming. But I'm 40 now, gaming isn't as much of a priority anymore, a bit here and there but that's it.
Since the early 2000s I've been dabbling with various Linux distros, but that's about as far as it got. I've tried Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Arch, Kali, and a handful of other small distros. Mostly jumping back and forth to see the differences with each. I know enough to do basic tasks, but when it comes to advanced stuff, it becomes a chore. I don't mind the terminal when I need to use it. And I'm willing to get down and dirty if needed. Arch is the most complex distro I've installed, but I managed after a few failed tries.
Up until recently, I was dual booting Windows 10 and Ubuntu LTS. Getting back to what I said already, I was never really serious about diving deep into Linux. Or I was, but Windows kept dragging me back in due to my familiarity with it.
I'm still dual booting, but yesterday I decided to replace Ubuntu with Debian. I've known for a long time that Ubuntu/Mint are based on Debian, so I figured, "why not go to the source?". And Ubuntu was getting irritating, with the Snap BS, Gnome acting wonky, a few other things. It just felt too bloated.
So I grabbed a Debian 12 net installer x64 iso, formatted the Ubuntu partitions, and booted the install media. I didn't find installing to be much more complex than other distros. It recognized my WLAN chip out of the box, so far it seems like everything is working. I chose LXQT for my DE, I'm liking it but decided to remove some of the preinstalled packages that I know I'll never use. My hardware is a Dell XPS 9360, i've had it for a few yrs, and it's seen a fair amount of OS installs.
Right now I'm booting Windows as little as possible, forcing myself to choose Linux, use it, practice CLI tutorials. I'm still not overly familiar with the whole process of installing packages, upgrading, etc. I know about apt-get, Synaptics, etc, but just the basics.
I mainly plan to use Debian as a general usage everyday distro, and for work, with a focus on stability and that it will hopefully continue to "just work". I'll be doing some lightweight gaming as well. I have a lot of titles that are Windows-specific, and in the absence of a native Linux version, it's just much easier to boot Windows to play certain titles, instead of messing around with WINE, which I've found to be hit or miss. It's all about the amount of time involved, setting up most games in Windows takes less time than with WINE.
I'll also be running VMs via QEMU/Virt Manager, there are times when I need to access Windows but don't want to dualboot. And to dabble with other distros without having to further partition my SSD and do more native installs. Ever since I discovered Virt Manager some months ago, I'm coming to appreciating how useful it is. So much better than VMware/VirtualBox. When I have more time, I plan to get around to installing Debian on my desktop, and setting up GPU pass through to a Windows guest, so I can play more games without dual booting.
I'm getting into Android development as well, mostly as a hobby, because I like to tinker and play with Android's innards. I know how to do things like root, install custom recoveries, install custom ROMs, flash firmware, etc. But I've heard that Ubuntu is better for this, due to its' more recent packages, and a lot of Android development stuff being geared toward Ubuntu. I'm looking for an opinion on Debian's suitability in this area, from someone who already does this kind of thing.
And, I'm not sure if my Intel integrated graphics card drivers are fully installed/working. I know Debian has a negative stance toward proprietary, but I at least need graphics acceleration to work so I can launch games. With just the basic Nouveau drivers or whatever it's called these days, that's not going to be enough. For the Dell, how can I verify that the graphics drivers are working and accelerated to the fullest extent that the hardware supports (in other words, compared to Windows)? I want to test a native Linux title like Starbound, something basic, but if the graphics driver isnt up to snuff, it won't launch. I know that Ubuntu supports installing proprietary drivers during setup of the OS, does Debian have a similar method that handles this?
Last, I feel the need to ask for tips and starting advice, what to avoid, that kind of thing. Basically, what to do next, recommended reading. In particular, the finer points of package management. So far, from what I've read, it's better to stay on Stable branch for awhile, and try to avoid installing packages from 3rd party repos.
I just get the feeling that sooner or later, something will break like it has in every distro I've tried, and it will probably be because of something done by me, simply because I may be misinformed and make a bonehead decision without knowing the consequences. Sometimes I can have a tendency to just try different things while trying to solve an issue, and my attempts don't always produce the results I want. Or worse, something breaks, further compounding my situation and creating a new problem.
Thank in advance, and happy 2024!
Anyway, I've been using computers for a long time. Started with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1. I've pretty much ran every consumer release of Windows, and am still partly dependent on it for gaming. But I'm 40 now, gaming isn't as much of a priority anymore, a bit here and there but that's it.
Since the early 2000s I've been dabbling with various Linux distros, but that's about as far as it got. I've tried Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Arch, Kali, and a handful of other small distros. Mostly jumping back and forth to see the differences with each. I know enough to do basic tasks, but when it comes to advanced stuff, it becomes a chore. I don't mind the terminal when I need to use it. And I'm willing to get down and dirty if needed. Arch is the most complex distro I've installed, but I managed after a few failed tries.
Up until recently, I was dual booting Windows 10 and Ubuntu LTS. Getting back to what I said already, I was never really serious about diving deep into Linux. Or I was, but Windows kept dragging me back in due to my familiarity with it.
I'm still dual booting, but yesterday I decided to replace Ubuntu with Debian. I've known for a long time that Ubuntu/Mint are based on Debian, so I figured, "why not go to the source?". And Ubuntu was getting irritating, with the Snap BS, Gnome acting wonky, a few other things. It just felt too bloated.
So I grabbed a Debian 12 net installer x64 iso, formatted the Ubuntu partitions, and booted the install media. I didn't find installing to be much more complex than other distros. It recognized my WLAN chip out of the box, so far it seems like everything is working. I chose LXQT for my DE, I'm liking it but decided to remove some of the preinstalled packages that I know I'll never use. My hardware is a Dell XPS 9360, i've had it for a few yrs, and it's seen a fair amount of OS installs.
Right now I'm booting Windows as little as possible, forcing myself to choose Linux, use it, practice CLI tutorials. I'm still not overly familiar with the whole process of installing packages, upgrading, etc. I know about apt-get, Synaptics, etc, but just the basics.
I mainly plan to use Debian as a general usage everyday distro, and for work, with a focus on stability and that it will hopefully continue to "just work". I'll be doing some lightweight gaming as well. I have a lot of titles that are Windows-specific, and in the absence of a native Linux version, it's just much easier to boot Windows to play certain titles, instead of messing around with WINE, which I've found to be hit or miss. It's all about the amount of time involved, setting up most games in Windows takes less time than with WINE.
I'll also be running VMs via QEMU/Virt Manager, there are times when I need to access Windows but don't want to dualboot. And to dabble with other distros without having to further partition my SSD and do more native installs. Ever since I discovered Virt Manager some months ago, I'm coming to appreciating how useful it is. So much better than VMware/VirtualBox. When I have more time, I plan to get around to installing Debian on my desktop, and setting up GPU pass through to a Windows guest, so I can play more games without dual booting.
I'm getting into Android development as well, mostly as a hobby, because I like to tinker and play with Android's innards. I know how to do things like root, install custom recoveries, install custom ROMs, flash firmware, etc. But I've heard that Ubuntu is better for this, due to its' more recent packages, and a lot of Android development stuff being geared toward Ubuntu. I'm looking for an opinion on Debian's suitability in this area, from someone who already does this kind of thing.
And, I'm not sure if my Intel integrated graphics card drivers are fully installed/working. I know Debian has a negative stance toward proprietary, but I at least need graphics acceleration to work so I can launch games. With just the basic Nouveau drivers or whatever it's called these days, that's not going to be enough. For the Dell, how can I verify that the graphics drivers are working and accelerated to the fullest extent that the hardware supports (in other words, compared to Windows)? I want to test a native Linux title like Starbound, something basic, but if the graphics driver isnt up to snuff, it won't launch. I know that Ubuntu supports installing proprietary drivers during setup of the OS, does Debian have a similar method that handles this?
Last, I feel the need to ask for tips and starting advice, what to avoid, that kind of thing. Basically, what to do next, recommended reading. In particular, the finer points of package management. So far, from what I've read, it's better to stay on Stable branch for awhile, and try to avoid installing packages from 3rd party repos.
I just get the feeling that sooner or later, something will break like it has in every distro I've tried, and it will probably be because of something done by me, simply because I may be misinformed and make a bonehead decision without knowing the consequences. Sometimes I can have a tendency to just try different things while trying to solve an issue, and my attempts don't always produce the results I want. Or worse, something breaks, further compounding my situation and creating a new problem.
Thank in advance, and happy 2024!
Statistics: Posted by Enigma83 — 2024-01-03 11:09 — Replies 2 — Views 97